The NBA Lockout shortened 11/12 NBA season caused that rookie class’ cards to be pushed back into the 2012/13 season. That means you’ll find BOTH 11/12 and 12/13 NBA rookies in this set! What makes these cards interesting is that they came out after 2011/12 Hoops Basketball, but was the first set to contain autograph rookies like Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis and anyone drafted in 2011 or 2012 inside the packs. The redemption cards (found in all 2011/12 Panini NBA products) for autographs/XRC’s are not expect to be redeemed for several months after this set goes live. The base rookies are listed above, and if they have an autograph, it’s listed below.

12/13 NBA HoopsMiami Heat NBA Championship Card #301

LeBron James made some of his biggest critics jobs a lot harder now that he’s an NBA champion. In 2011/12 NBA Hoops, Panini made a special card for the Dallas Mavericks when they beat the Miami Heat in the finals.

12/13 NBA HoopsAutograph Cards

With the addition of both 11/12 and 12/13 NBA Rookies to this set, we’ll see if the checklist of the veteran NBA player autographs will be as deep as last year. You can expect the set will contain Panini Exclusive athletes, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, John Wall and others.

These cards will always have some collector value no matter how the rookie pans out because Kobe is featured on the card. I wonder if these are in order, Isaiah Thomas was impressive down the stretch last season.

The 2011/12 set featured Kobe Bryant and Blake Griffin versions of this rare insert. Last year it’s reported that they only fell 1 per 15 – 20 cases.

12/13 NBA HoopsKobe Bryant Anthology

Cards #1 – 180

Panini announced that each set they release during the 12/13 season will contain special Kobe Bryant anthology cards. Each product will contain a different version of cards, and these are the first cards in the series. These cards come in a special box loader pack found in hobby boxes.